


Waiting for Justice

by zenkitty555



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Captivity, Enemies to Lovers, Evil Plans, Friends to Enemies, M/M, Magic, Magic Tricks, Mind Games, Moral Ambiguity, Plans For The Future, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Doctor Strange (2016), Sorcerers, Unresolved Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-25 16:27:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20727248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zenkitty555/pseuds/zenkitty555
Summary: Stephen and Wong have no idea what to do with Karl Mordo.





	Waiting for Justice

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by panels I remember seeing in a few Doctor Strange comics. However, this rendition only involves the MCU characters.

"Funny how these things work out," he remarked. 

Wong chose to ignore the man. It was best for it to be this way, as all of them knew this solution was not a good one, but it was better than all the others they had come up with. Karl Mordo had committed many wrongs, yet none of those wrongs in his opinion deserved the punishment of death, nor could they bring themselves to fall to his level of justice. However, this didn't sit well with either Stephen or himself. Despite their feelings, they knew they would have to wait for the decision from all the other heads of sorcerer communities when they came together to pass judgment upon the man. Karl had damaged their communities as well, and they would not be pleased if those at Kamar-Taj would just take it upon themselves to dole out justice. It was only right to have the appearance of impartiality, even if they all knew it was a farce. 

"It seems like only yesterday we were sitting in the courtyard, looking up at the stars, when I asked you if you would be my first."

Wong cringed inwardly from the memory. Karl continued on, even though he was well aware of Wong's feelings on the topic of that day.

"I remember you telling me that I physically and mentally may be an adult, but that I was far from it emotionally."

"Are you just airing your grievances against me, or dredging up old memories to prove a point?" Wong asked with some exasperation.

"At one time there was some affection between us."

"It was mostly one sided," Wong lied.

It was true there had been some affection; he had cared for Karl to a degree, and they had remained friends after that disastrous night, but it had all been too messy. It was the other man's style to try to keep a calm surface when tsunami like waves lurked below, only for those waves to break through when the stress got to be too much. Once the Ancient One had died and her secrets had been exposed, that calm surface had nearly eroded all away, or so that's what it sounded like from Stephen's description. And really that's what this was about, the three of them and whatever happened that day. Wong just happened to be caught up in the fallout. It was unpleasant and continuous with no hope of escape.

"If it was so one sided, why do continue to bring me things to placate me when you think I'm sleeping?"

"It's out of pity."

There was a clang as Karl leaned strongly against the door of the makeshift cell. It would hold with the magic upon it, but it was no substitute for true containment. If Karl were to escape inside the Sanctum, there would be grave consequences. It was one reason they frequented the room so often, and yet, they tried to avoid it as well.

"If I believed that, I wouldn't take it, and you know it."

"What you believe is entirely different from the reality I live."

It was harsh, but he needed to dissuade Karl from believing he would have any sway upon them. Although Wong was steadfast, he worried that Karl would get to Stephen. The man still harbored a weakness for the other sorcerer even after all this time. It was painful to see, but Wong had understood it was not entirely unwarranted. There were connections between them that had only multiplied since Stephen came back. 

He turned his back to Karl, taking the tray and large canteen bottle of water away. Karl spoke at him again, but he tuned it out, not wanting to encourage or engage the man anymore. The burden of caring for him started to take its toll, and all Wong could do was hope it would be over sooner rather than later.

.oOo.

"It's my turn isn't it?" Stephen asked with a sigh. 

They didn't even need to clarify at this point what they were talking about. Every day it was a similar routine. They couldn't trust anyone else with the task of bringing Karl his meals and dealing with whatever needs he may have that couldn't be dismissed. Sometimes, he would ask for books, and they could give him those. His requests were often fictional fare, harmless in their nature. While the time he asked for pen and paper, all they could offer was to write and send it for him. Unsurprisingly, he declined the offer. 

Stephen found the whole ordeal stressful, more so than it had been tracking the man. 

“If you want me to,” Wong said, getting up from his seat.

“No. If it’s my turn, I will do it.”

The agitated sigh that came from the other sorcerer caused irritation to flair up in him immediately.

“I was only checking. I don’t know why you assume that I wanted you to do it.”

He didn’t even need to look, he could just feel Wong rolling his eyes. 

Stephen stood up and grabbed the tray off to the side. He’d have to go down to the kitchen and collect everything that would be needed. Karl just got whatever they were having, which with Stephen it was often just a ham sandwich. It was nothing special, but it would do. No matter what criticism he did get, it was still food. 

When he had finally fixed everything and ate his own lunch, he took the stairs up to where Karl was being kept. Stephen slowly opened the door, wondering if he would get lucky and that Karl would be napping. He didn’t want to confront the reality of it all. Karl made things much harder than they needed to be.

This day was not his lucky day.

“Is it because your hands are so useless that you bring me such rubbish day after day?” 

He had been stewing in whatever vitriol he had in his heart and mind that day. It wasn’t something uncommon, and Stephen could only choose to ignore it. The situation most likely exacerbated the man’s fowl temper. Stephen’s presence also did not help; he knew that.

It was at that point he thought that maybe he should have taken Wong up on his offer. 

“Even in the worst countries in the world, most provide time outdoors to their prisoners.”

“Most countries don’t house powerful sorcerers,” Stephen replied. 

Karl held up his wrists, showing the bracelet-like amulets placed upon him in order to stifle his magic. It was as if that really mattered in the long run. They both knew that Karl was too clever, and too well trained to let something like a lack of magic prevent his escape. It may have been possible to put more spells upon him to prevent his escape, but if he did that, it would be getting into magic that Stephen did not wish to touch. 

Stephen put the tray down and slid it under the bars, not looking at the man as he did it. Their eyes finally met when Stephen stood up from his bent position. Karl’s eyes contained the same loathing as the day before and the day before that. There was not much he could do to change it. He had tried many times when they faced off in clashes before Karl had been captured to no avail.

“Aren’t you supposed to be some Sorcerer Supreme now?”

Ignoring the dig, Stephen took the other empty tray from the man’s cell.

“This is why you will never be a great sorcerer Stephen. You run from the truth and rules because you cannot handle doing what is necessary and right, just like her.” 

“As opposed to acting on presumptions, like you?” Stephen shot back.

“You should have killed me when you had the chance.”

Small little cracks that had formed in his heart started to break apart a little further.

“Violence solves nothing. Besides, it’s not for me to decide. You’ve upset mystical leaders, priests, and shamans in your quest. Should I deprive them of their opportunity to see and question the man who has been decimating their communities?”

The crack in his heart started to widen with each word, something he had tried to prevent over countless hours and many sleepless nights. The sorcerer he once thought he knew seemed dead to him, and he was dead to that man as well. 

“Pawning off your responsibilities upon others. Continuing the tradition, I see.”

“You did this to yourself.”

“I did nothing to myself except to be true to who I am and what I’ve learned. If you cannot see that, you choose to be blind.”

Round and round they went, and Stephen just wanted to stop at this point. There was no reason to continue going, so he did stop. He stopped listening and speaking, hoping that one day Karl would be able to get past the betrayal he so fondly recalled nearly every time they met. 

A depressive state settled upon him as he turned to leave the room. His whole person could feel nothing but fatigue and anxiety as he went to continue on his day. It was looking as if it would be another night without any real sense of rest.

.oOo.

As it continued to get closer and closer to the date of Karl's judgement, he became a little more tense, a little more wary of interacting. Even his tone had shifted, having aired a lot of his many complaints many times over. He still protested various ways he was being treated, but now he knew his life could forever be changed or even taken after this meeting. Karl couldn't help but become more nervous at the possibility of not being able to get out of this mess. 

It wasn't that he regretted what he did, it was that he regretted that he wasn't able to finish what he started. He had to make them see, or at least make them understand his point of view was valid. What were rules for after all? To them they were just guidelines. Yet, ever since Stephen came to power, half the world had disappeared and then reappeared, and the walls between realities had weakened to the point where some had nearly collapsed, creating fractures in them that every practitioner of magic could feel. Even though the Ancient One had broken her vows, he couldn't believe what the ramifications of her precedent had become. No one else seemed to connect the dots between the various happening since Stephen's rise. At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder how many were aware of her treachery. She had kept them in the dark for so long, and it was hard to believe Stephen wasn't doing the same.

He needed to be free, but his captors had yet to make a mistake in keeping him. Whatever hole that formed in their ranks, he would be sure to exploit it. Only, he had been expecting the hole to be in the logistics or the physicality of it all. However, after a while, he slowly started to realize that he should have stopped raging at Stephen long before and stopped appealing to Wong. The key to his escape was exploiting the new Sorcerer Supreme's sense of sentimentality and morality. He never had it in him to do what was necessary, and Karl could exploit that bleeding heart of his. It occured to him how stupid he had been, waiting for some mistake, when it was the purposeful ignorance of the former doctor that he could exploit. Wong wouldn't bend, but Stephen was clearly cracking under the pressures of the situation. 

And so he waited. The balance was more delicate than most predicaments he found himself in. There needed to be a sense of guilt and small amount of fear in their interaction, and depending on Stephen's day, his mood could be quite different. He knew that the man, when pushed, could become as stressed as the best of them. Karl could manipulate him better than most when he was like that, and for some odd reason Stephen always took the bait. Something he rarely seemed to do with others.

And so he waited, thinking of a few possible plans of action. When night fell, he dreamed of these plans, seeing the potential outcomes play out in full, none of them accurate, and some not even remotely possible. Still, they were dreams that kept him going.

And then it was time. Karl woke up one morning and knew it would be best to go about his plan that day. He had been preparing for about a week to try and make his story believable, and he knew he would do well, having experienced enacting an escape plan before.

When Stephen came in, Karl laid on the cot provided for him, turned away from the man. Normally, he would make sure to be up to harass Stephen. The change in his presentation would cause Stephen to become suspicious, and he was proven right. Stephen came around to the side of cell and up close to the bars. Karl ignored him. 

"I brought you some lunch."

Karl didn't make a move or a sound, and Stephen just stood there. He could tell by the lack of sound that the sorcerer must be assessing the situation, so he continued to lay there, looking at the wall. It would be clear to Stephen he was not sleeping. 

"Your lunch is here."

"I'll eat it later."

"What? Don't you want to insult me, or ask me what garbage I brought for you today?"

He stayed silent, knowing it would bother the other man. The sudden change in attitude wouldn't make him aggravated, but would puzzle him to the point where he would have to know the answer. Stephen had always been one of those students. 

Karl sighed before verbalizing his well prepared statement, "I keep asking myself, why did I choose you of all people? Then, I think back and remember seeing and hearing you muttering under your breath 'Kamar-Taj' over and over again, and couldn't help but think you must have been desperate. After, in the alleyway with the muggers, it was moving how hard you fought to keep hold of your single possession that so many others would have given up easily. You had the spirit. That's why I chose you."

It was then he decided to crane his neck so that he could look back and see his rival. Stephen was frozen at the bars with grave concern etched into his brow. Clearly, Karl's approach was working. 

"I'll always be thankful for that," Stephen murmured.

The lack of movement told Karl his plan was working. The wheels in Stephen's brain were most likely going at full speed at this point, threatening to fall off if Karl applied extra pressure. There was the danger in this game. If Stephen became too burdened by their talk, he would retreat back to assess what he should do after.

"I always wondered how you could feel so little for me, when I fought every step of the way for you to succeed," He paused before dropping the volume of his voice, adding a touch of sadness, "At one point, I even thought there could have been more. Clearly, it was not to be."

Karl decided to get up in a semi dramatic fashion and go to the bars where Stephen stood on the opposite side. There he stood face to face with Stephen, who could only stand there looking shocked and hurt by Karl's words. It was an unexpected turn of events. Stephen actually did feel deeply for him in more than a professional or friendly type of way. If Karl hadn't been so focused on in acting his plan, he was sure he would have needed to sit down again. Instead, he was able to think about how he could use it to has advantage, now realizing that this would be much easier than his various plans in his head from before.

Taking in a long, deep breath of air and holding it, he stepped forward, almost to the point where their noses were touching. He only let it out slowly when he cast his eyes downward, noticing the man was shoeless, wearing a pair of slippers. Things seemed to be lining up perfectly. 

"I needed to learn. I was there to learn. You surely wouldn't have gone after a student," Stephen rationalized aloud.

"A 40 year old student?" Karl asked, incredulously. 

He brought his eyes to meet Stephen's again, and his heart gave a lurch. He just wasn't sure if it was from past feelings being dredged up or anxiety due to the very, very near future.

"Isn't a student, a student?" Stephen asked. 

Karl could see him swallowing hard, and it was then he reached his hands through the bars to grasp Stephen's wrists at a point Karl knew would startle the man, but not hurt him. He made sure that his grip wasn't too tight, but that he also couldn't pull away out of reflex.

"We could have been so much more," Karl said in a low voice.

With that he pulled Stephen close enough and kissed him through the bars, clearly taking the man by surprise. However, Stephen didn't pull away, causing Karl to deepen it. Stephen let him, responding in kind with his tongue hesitantly meeting its counterpart.

When Karl pulled away, Stephen just stood there looking at Karl, not realizing what Karl had done. It was only when Karl walked to the door of his jail cell and cast a quick spell upon it did the other man realized what had happened. Stephen jerked his arms against the bars, but they would not come free. It seemed that the man didn't remember that the cuffs could be transferred through extreme close contact with magic, and that the redistribution of magic was possible when two people shared fluids from intimate actions, including kissing. Karl had used Stephen's magic to bind Stephen with the same cuffs that had bound him for weeks on end. Now, it was Stephen's turn to have his magic supply cut off until Wong found him and released him.

Right as Stephen opened his mouth to yell, or to protest, or to do whatever, Karl put a silencing spell upon him.

"I knew when I placed that watch into your hands that you had a sentimental streak. At the time it was endearing, but now I find it to be quite useful. You won't bring yourself to kill me, and look where it's got you," Karl whispered it in the man's ear as he came around to Stephen's side, sliding his hand over Stephen's belt for the sling ring he knew would be there.

He let his hands linger there for a minute; the leather feeling good under his fingertips. When he stepped away, he paused before declaring, "I do hope one day you will see reason, Stephen. We have rules to serve a purpose greater than ourselves. Those who abuse them to serve only their own goals shall be punished, even if you are too weak to do so yourself."

For him there was also a sadness to the whole business, but he pushed his feelings aside as he made his portal. He had more pressing matters to attend to. Stephen Strange would have to wait for justice to come.


End file.
